Agreement would send more Iowa pork to Taiwan

Governor Tom Vilsack says he’s signed an agreement that will send 100-million more pounds of Iowa pork and other meat products to Taiwan in the next three years. Iowa’s Governor is on a trade mission to the Pacific Rim, and he says Taiwan has agreed to buy almost 40 million pounds of pork next year. That’s twice as much as Iowa meat as Taiwan will end up buying from Iowa this year. Governor Vilsack says Taiwan’s agreeing to buy a massive amount of meat. According to a calculation by Vilsack’s staff, it’s as if Taiwan were importing six semi-trailer rigs full of pork and other meat from Iowa each day. Vilsack says the deal’s worth 50-million dollars to Iowa, and will help pork producers at a time when they really need extra money.